Breaking Down Every Jason Spriggs Snap Vs. the Redskins

Not that Jason Spriggs needs someone else to get on his case - Packer's twitter is all over him like a bad rash. But I thought it would be useful to take a look and see if it was as bad as everyone was making it out to be or just an exaggeration.

Before I proceed, let me say that I wasn't thrilled when the Packers selected Spriggs, much less traded up to nab him. In my write-up of offensive tackles for the CHTV Draft Guide, here's what I had to say about Spriggs:

In a Nutshell: A former tight end, Spriggs is a fluid, athletic big man fit strictly for a zone blocking scheme. As a run blocker, he doesn’t show much power or ability to finish blocks. In pass protection, he has an efficient kick slide but can get knocked off balance and is very susceptible to inside moves. As you would expect, he pulls or gets to the second level easily, but he’s spotted whiffing on blocks way too often. 
 
NFL Combine: If there were a “Best in Shorts” award at the combine, Spriggs would take the OL competition in a landslide. He was first in the 40-yard dash, first in the broad jump, second in the 20-yard shuttle and fourth in the bench press. While there’s no denying his athletic prowess, his tape shows a myriad of inadequacies he will have to work on.
In short, I considered him a project - yet there was talk of teams looking at him in Round One and obviously, the Packers thought he wouldn't last until their pick in Round Two, so they traded up in the second round in order to draft him.
 
Still, I tried to remain positive, hoping that a few years in the weight room and working with NFL coaches would put him on the right path. While it's still way too early to make a determination, one would have to say it's not looking good thus far. But was he really as bad against the Redskins as everyone is making him out to have been? Only one way to know - you have to go back and look at him on every play. Run every play back a few times, use slow motion, stop motion, etc. So that's what I did.
 
Here's what I saw, with a few video clips to help out.

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Play 1 - 1st and 10 - Spriggs starts to go after Preston Smith who is rushing wide, but sees the LB shooting the gap - correctly takes the inside guy. Smith comes in free, but with that pass protection scheme, it's on Hundley to avoid the sack from the offside rusher when the line is slanting the other direction - he doesn't.

Play 2 - 2nd and 23 - Screen to opposite side. His job is to just wall off the outside rusher. Does so.

Play 3 - 3rd and 26. - Pass pro against Johnathan Allen. Lots of hand fighting, Spriggs hold his ground fine.

 

Play 4. - 1st and 10 - ZBS Run to the opposite side, Spriggs can not establish a position in front of the Wash DL, who runs down the line and just misses making the tackle.

Play 5  - 2nd and 5 - Rollout to the right, Spriggs needs only to route his rusher wide, which he does.

Play 6  - 1st and 10 - ZBS Run to the opposite side. This time Spriggs does a bit better at slowing down his rusher's pursuit down the line. When the guy is off balance, Spriggs takes advantage and pushes him to the ground.

Play 7 - 2nd and 5 - Sideline go route to Janis. Spriggs has the outside linebacker to contend with. His slide step a bit exaggerated, rusher gets by him with just a reaching push wide from Spriggs. Hundley gets rid of it quickly, no harm.

 

Play 8 - 1st and 10 - Play action wide receiver screen to Allison. Good run fake has Wash front seven biting. Spriggs just blocks down on his man as if it were a run. No issues.

Play 9 - 2nd and 3 - Rollout right by Hundley. Spriggs merely needs to wall off and prevent any backside pursuit. Does so but when the LB gets past him, Spriggs reaches out and looked like he was tempted to grab him but wisely stopped himself. There was no need.

Play 10 - 3rd and 2 - TD Pass to Aaron Jones. Wash sends inside rusher at Spriggs and then blitzes the corner. Spriggs slows the initial rush from the inside guy and then peels off to take the CB. Had a twitter discussion about this with Aaron Nagler and Owen Reise of Acme Packing Co. My contention was Spriggs should never leave an inside rusher for an outside one. After much discussion, we all agreed I was right from a Xs and Os perspective, but since it worked, we all say "nice play - try not to do that again."

Play 11 - 1st and 10 - Finally a run to Spriggs' side. One on one with the linebacker - who keeps Spriggs at arm's length and then slips off to assist in the tackle. Spriggs shows his lack of strength.

Play 12 - 2nd and 6 - Straight drop by Hundley. Spriggs lets rushing LB get his shoulder into his chest and ends up just walling him off with no hand use at all. Wierd technique. Looked like he was playing man D on the basketball courts with his arms out. Terrible technique.
 

Play 13 - 3rd and 6 - Wash sends a rusher way wide, drawing Spriggs out and then blitz two guys through the space created. Spriggs stays with the outside rusher (a mistake IMO) but luckily Derrick Mays does a nice job of recognizing it and comes over from the right side to get in the way. Nice play by Mays, poor recognition by Spriggs. 

Play 14 -1st and 10 - Hundley straight drop. Little for Spriggs to do as Richard Rodgers chips the rushing OLB, who gets to Spriggs late. Spriggs just diverts him wide.

Play 15 - 2nd and 4 - Run to Sprigg's side, Richard Rodgers to his left, Allison in the backfield behind them. Rodgers blocks out, Spriggs block down, Allison fails to pick up either of two Redskins shooting into the gap resulting in Mays getting blown up in the backfield. Spriggs did his job, pushing his man down the line and eventually to the ground.

Play 16 - 3rd and 2 - (after a penalty). Redskins again send corner blitz on Spriggs' side. Spriggs takes inside rusher first and passes him off to the guard, then pops out to get a push on the corner. This is the correct thing to do when you know you are passing the inside rusher off and not just letting him come free. However, a third rusher on that side breaks through from the inside to get a sack on the play. Spriggs did his job.

 

Play 17 - 1st and 10 - Handoff to Mays on right side. Spriggs just walls off the outside rusher easily. End of half.

2nd Half:

Play 18 - 1st and 10 - Play action fake to Spriggs' side holds up the linebacker. Spriggs easily stays in front of him as the pass is completed to Allison on the right.

Play 19 - 1st and 10 - ZBS run to Spriggs side. No one on the line of scrimmage for Spriggs to block. Looks for a LB and completely whiffs on him.

Play 20 - 2nd and 8 - ZBS right. Spriggs staying in front of his man as they run down the line together - but RG Justin McCray gets completely blown up backward and Williams is taken down for loss of 5.

Play 21 - 3rd and 13 - Spriggs lets the rusher get into his chest but slide steps nicely, keeps his balance and eventually gets his hands in right position. Nice job.

Play 22 - 3rd and 23 - Straight drop back. Spriggs in pass pro, Jamal Williams comes over to chip the rushing OLB but whiffs. Spriggs not anchored - gets caught off-balance and the LB gets around him easily for the sack.

Play 23 - 1st and 10 - Deep throw by Callahan. Spriggs gets bull-rushed - thrown off-balance at first but recovers to stop the advance.

Play 24 - 2nd and 10 - Quick pass where the OL blocks as if it was a running play. Spriggs runs at his man and engages. Horrible pass by Callahan actually hits Spriggs in the head as he's blocking. No issues with Spriggs here.
 

Play 25 - 3rd and 10 - Callahan drops, back. Amichia and Spriggs execute a swap on stunting rushers perfectly. Amichia hands off his guy to Spriggs and then meets the stunting OLB inside and walls him off from Callahan. No one to throw to, Callahan dances around the pocket and is taken down by the OLB who eventually broke free from Amichia.

Play 26 - 1st and 10 - Run off Spriggs' inside hip. Spriggs lets the OLB take an outside approach and walls him off.

Play 27 - 2nd and 6 - Sprigg's is beaten badly with an inside move. Barely got a hand on the rusher. Feet appeared to be glued to the ground. Just terrible.

Play 28 - 3rd and 18 - Packers see they need to give Spriggs help so they send Aaron Jones over to chip the OLB. Then Jones continues to the flat and catches a short pass.

Summary: To paraphrase the famous words of Dennis Green, "he is what I thought he was." Wish I could say I was wrong about Spriggs but as of right now, he just does not look like an NFL player. I know this is just an examination of one preseason game, but Spriggs has done little up to this point to convince me to chalk this up to just a bad game. He's a fine athlete in shorts, as he showed during the combine, but does he have the heart, will, and strength to survive in the NFL trenches?  Only time will tell, and Spriggs is going to need that time if he has hopes of being a productive player in this league.

Mr. Spriggs...

 

 

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__________________________

"Jersey Al" Bracco is the Editor-In-Chief, part owner and wearer of many hats for CheeseheadTV.com and PackersTalk.com. He is also a recovering Mason Crosby truther.  Follow Al on twitter at @JerseyalGBP

__________________________

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Comments (62)

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GBPDAN1's picture

August 22, 2017 at 06:12 pm

Ouch

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GBPDAN1's picture

August 22, 2017 at 06:21 pm

This is so troublesome. Let's hope nothing happens to Bak and Bulaga. Even missing a couple of games for either could be devastating if Spriggs has to fill in. As a matter of fact, the team should just play a back up QB if Spriggs is in. This way Rodgers wont get killed!

But seriously, TT better be scanning all options for a replacement right now. If Ted doesn't find a better option at the number one backup OT, he's not doing his job.

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Ferrari Driver's picture

August 22, 2017 at 06:40 pm

I watched Spriggs on tape myself for a number of plays. He just seems clumsy and slow to react to me.

I remember many years ago when I was at the Packers training camp in 1989 and watched the rookie Tony Mandarich for the first time. He also looked clumsy and slow to react.

Two peas in a pod.

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Tundraboy's picture

August 22, 2017 at 06:46 pm

Please not the M word. God no.

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stockholder's picture

August 22, 2017 at 10:08 pm

Spriggs will get it together. Give him time.

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flackcatcher's picture

August 22, 2017 at 10:17 pm

Yup. Spriggs problems all lay in size and footwork. As long as he does not have to play in space he's fine. Packers took him as a project at tackle. Kind of like Janis(JANIS!). It took till this year for Janis to put what the packers were teaching on the field. MM is to blame for wasting Janis and Adams year with no position coach. With Spriggs, he needs the game snaps and practices to get muscle memory. I suspect the 'light' will come on sometime this season. But we won't see it until the next preseason. Nicely done Al.

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JerseyAl's picture

August 23, 2017 at 08:28 am

Thanks. But with regards to your comment "As long as he does not have to play in space he's fine." The problem with that is, his athleticism was supposed to make that a strength for him. But we're not seeing it on the football field to this point.

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Ferrari Driver's picture

August 23, 2017 at 10:25 pm

I didn't realize that you wrote the article, but it's evident that you spent a lot of time piecing it all together and that certainly helped many of us to better understand where Spriggs is at this point in his career.

Good job!

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flackcatcher's picture

August 23, 2017 at 11:26 pm

Your right. My guess is he is still not comfortable with the extra mass he put on this season. His footwork at Indiana and the combine were nothing like what we are seeing now. But the packers tried to not play him outside till they were forced to in Dallas last year. Spriggs was really skinny for a NFL OL. Center mass changes how one walks. I am wondering just how much weight Spriggs put on from his rookie year till now.

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jyros's picture

August 22, 2017 at 11:39 pm

This is all very reminiscent of the Mike Wahle story.

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TKWorldWide's picture

August 23, 2017 at 01:00 am

Who turned out to be an excellent lineman.

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dobber's picture

August 23, 2017 at 08:58 am

...at G.

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Thegreatreynoldo's picture

August 23, 2017 at 03:31 am

This is great content, and is well written. Very topical as well. Just outstanding. It might be the best article I've read on the packers in a long time.

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JerseyAl's picture

August 23, 2017 at 08:29 am

Thanks! your check is in the mail.

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NickPerry's picture

August 23, 2017 at 05:26 am

We know Ted isn't cutting him no matter what so Spriggs has some time to get better. Play 27 seemed to be what I saw in Philly and again last week every time I paid particular attention to how Spriggs was doing on a given snap. With his body he should be able to get a hell of a lot stronger without sacrificing any speed or quickness, at least the speed and quickness he showed in spandex. I know Cody Whitehair is a Guard but that's who I would have taken if I HAD to draft a OL at that point in the draft.

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RCPackerFan's picture

August 23, 2017 at 07:17 am

A few thoughts on the plays.

Play 10 - You said that you and Nagler and others went back and forth on the play.
My question with that play is shouldn't he peel off his guy to at least slow the momentum of the faster player? He saw the DB coming fast so he came off of his player and did a really good job of slowing the momentum of the DB.

Play 22 - I remember seeing this live. While Spriggs ended up giving up the sack I felt like he got caught thinking Williams was going to knock him back inside and Spriggs was waiting for him there. When Williams missed the block it allowed the DE to get back to the outside and Spriggs was out of position.
While he looked really bad, I don't fully blame Spriggs for this play.

Play 27 - That is bad, and I mean horrible actually. Probably the worst play of the night for him.

I think Spriggs can get better and play better. I just hope its really, really soon. Right now it looks like Spriggs is playing on skates.

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JerseyAl's picture

August 23, 2017 at 08:37 am

Play 10 - In general, you always take the player with the shortest distance to the QB. In addition, if they run protection schemes to slant to one side, it's expected that the backside outside player will be unblocked. It's up to the QB to get rid of the ball quick or avoid the guy.

Play 22 - I went back and forth on this point myself. I almost gave him a pass on this play but in the end, I thought there was no reason for him not to be able to still be on the balls of his feet and handle the adjustment.

Play 27 - Yes. To get frozen to the ground by a simple one-step cut is just hard to fathom.

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RCPackerFan's picture

August 23, 2017 at 09:41 am

Play 10 - Yeah, I think he made the right decision on the play. But like you said in general take the inside guy.

Play 22 - I'm not really trying to give him a pass for the play. I'm just putting myself in his shoes and that's what I think happened with him. Kind of like when a hitter is up to the plate and he predetermines that he is swinging at the pitch before the ball is thrown.
That play to me shows that he isn't able to recover if he misses early. Not a good trait for a young LT.

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croatpackfan's picture

August 23, 2017 at 07:49 am

As Kyle Murphy looked much better on the right side of the line, and he was playing LT at Stanford, what all of you think about Kyle as 1st RT/LT back up choice?

EDIT: I forget to say MARVELOUS ARTICLE Al. Enjoyed in every sentence...

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RCPackerFan's picture

August 23, 2017 at 07:54 am

I think he needs to get some time over there for sure. Spriggs has struggled and they need to find someone else that can play the left side.

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JerseyAl's picture

August 23, 2017 at 08:38 am

I've been thinking the same thing and thanks for the kind words.

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Mojo's picture

August 23, 2017 at 09:40 am

Exactly what I though Croat. Just use Murphy as the primary tackle backup on both sides. He had a very good game against Washington at RT. He's got pro-tackle size, was a five star recruit out of HS and with a year on the PS has added weight and muscle. His arrow is pointing up.

Spriggs will make the team because of his draft status, size and athleticism. But as of now, for ARods health, they should play him with the ones only if the other tackle options are hurt.

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Spock's picture

August 23, 2017 at 09:56 am

Croat, Here's a nice video by Larry McCarren showing Kyle Murphy playing well at tackle in the last game! I hadn't realized Murphy played almost a half there against Washington.

http://www.packers.com/media-center/videos/Rock-Report-Help-yourself/c4f...

Gives me some hope at backup for tackle.

Agreed about Jersey Al's article!

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JerseyAl's picture

August 23, 2017 at 10:37 am

Croat - Did I ever mention my family hails from Istria - Nerezine? As you probably know, it was part of Italy from WWI - WWII, so they were Italian citizens - ended up in a camp when it became part of communist Yugoslavia after WWII. They eventually escaped by boat under the cover of darkness to Italy and ended up in the US a few yrs later,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istrian-Dalmatian_exodus

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croatpackfan's picture

August 24, 2017 at 03:09 am

No, I did not know that info. So, maybe two of us have some distant common roots.
I think that we can adopt Mike Trgovac in the group. His family name in Croatian means Salesman, or Sales person or trader. I suppose his family coming from this area of Europe, too.

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Bedrock's picture

August 23, 2017 at 08:47 am

I've only read through the first half checking for trends and looking objectively at Al's data, but it seems like he did alright. I didn't read too much that isn't correctable. I'm about to read the 2nd half again. My suspicion is it's a stamina/focus issue. Here goes.

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Bedrock's picture

August 23, 2017 at 08:54 am

I reread the first half again...and again...and again. I swear it keeps getting worse. Spriggs screws up roughly one-third of the time. Ouch. How many are mental, how many are physical?

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JerseyAl's picture

August 23, 2017 at 08:57 am

You were kind of on the right track - He was "ok" his first few series, although he got away with some assignment mistakes. But it got noticeably worse from there...

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TKWorldWide's picture

August 23, 2017 at 09:04 am

Did Spriggs gain any weight over what he played at last year?

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JerseyAl's picture

August 23, 2017 at 09:21 am

hard to tell - everywhere you look, 2017 Roster, 2016 Roster, NFL Combine - he's listed at 301 lbs. Doubt if he hasn't changed a pound in 2 1/2 yrs. So who knows.

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TKWorldWide's picture

August 23, 2017 at 11:43 am

And I always chuckle when a player reportedly "gained 5 lbs of muscle" in an offseason. Heck, I weigh in the 170's and my weight can fluctuate that much in a week. Hard to think 5 lbs are significant with guys who weigh in the 300's.

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dobber's picture

August 23, 2017 at 01:38 pm

I thought I'd read a piece on Packers.com where he'd put on 10 lbs this off-season. It's not really reflected anywhere...

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TKWorldWide's picture

August 23, 2017 at 02:06 pm

I know! I'm sure they weigh guys every year, why not just update that part of the roster?

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flackcatcher's picture

August 23, 2017 at 11:54 pm

Colleges lie about player height and size all the time. It is the one thing about the college game which annoys me to no end. Indiana listing him like that was typical gamesmanship. It's like when basketball teams list guards at 6 feet, when looking it's clear they are sub 5'10 at best. I saw Spriggs play vs Bucky, he look really skinny. All most thin. Now he looks completely different, I do believe he is around 300 pounds now. He looks like an NFL lineman. But like I said before, I wonder just how weight Spriggs has put on from his rookie year till now. What he was at Indiana, and what he is now, that kind of raw ability does not go away overnight.

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Finwiz's picture

August 23, 2017 at 09:53 am

Wow - this is one of THE BEST articles I've ever seen on CheeseheadTV!
Nice piece of work Jersey Al!

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JerseyAl's picture

August 23, 2017 at 10:04 am

Thanks - If only I were retired with tons of free time I could do this every week!

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JDK52's picture

August 23, 2017 at 10:22 am

Great work, Al.

Just for curiosities' sake, how would you compare year 1-year 2 Spriggs to the same years of Bakhtiari's career? My recollection of Bakh was that, prior to his 3rd and 4th years, he was known for excellent athleticism and being assignment sure. So he was great against speed rushes and in zone blocking, but sometimes struggled against power rushes.

That changed when he made a major commitment to getting stronger, and the result is what we had last year-he was all but unbeatable, no matter what.

My question is, can Spriggs be serviceable if his lightbulb goes on? I'm surprised he doesn't seem to be adjusting to the NFL mentally very well. It seems like were he to start seeing the game slow down, he would improve noticeably even without the necessary strength.

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JerseyAl's picture

August 23, 2017 at 10:43 am

Good questions - I'm not sure if Spriggs has the mental toughness or desire to be great like Bak does. Bak has the mental toughness to fight back if he's temporarily losing the battle and recover. Spriggs has shown little ability to recover when the opponent gets the upper hand.

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CJ Bauckham's picture

August 23, 2017 at 11:33 am

That was always my biggest worry when we drafted him. I'd read he just didn't seem to have the desire to want to pound the guy in front of him. If you can't light a fire under your own butt to punish the guy across the line from you, you prob shouldn't be playin on the O-line. Or any line for that matter.

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TKWorldWide's picture

August 23, 2017 at 11:43 am

Maybe the unemployment line.

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PatrickGB's picture

August 23, 2017 at 11:01 am

Outstanding work. I cannot actually watch the games so I have to rely on the comments of others. This article was a great breakdown of Spriggs play. As I have commented before I am still hopeful that he will improve with training and time. Bak spoiled us by being a great starter right off the bat. However, that was a rare occurrence for this league. Spriggs was drafted for his potential. He was/is undersized and inexperienced in pro style line play. Right now he looks third string at best yet he may have a higher ceiling than Murphy who I think is a better player this year. And besides, we have Barkley ;-)

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JerseyAl's picture

August 23, 2017 at 11:50 am

See to me, Murphy has that mentality of toughness, plus as a Stanford guy, he's going to be assignment sure. I had Spriggs rated as sixth best tackle and Murphy as ninth best - a steal to me for where they got him. What I wrote on Murphy in the CHTV Draft Guide:

"In a Nutshell: Murphy is an interesting prospect that needs to improve his footwork. If that gets straightened out, he could turn out to be a hidden gem. As a run blocker, he plays with excellent pad level and fires out from the line, especially in short yardage situations. His footwork gets him in trouble as a pass blocker, as he doesn’t anchor properly and can get knocked off balance by power rushes. He has all the physical traits to play tackle in the NFL, but will need some good coaching.

Senior Bowl: Murphy played both the left and right tackle spots at Stanford and the Senior Bowl coaches gave him opportunities at both. He struggled to keep up against the best edge rushers in the nation — again, his footwork — but he also won his share of battles. His performance served to highlight the technique improvements he needs to make."

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TKWorldWide's picture

August 23, 2017 at 03:01 pm

Although you had me at "pad level", Murphy's traits do look encouraging. Good coaching can improve footwork. Weight room can improve strength. But, can "quickness" or "agility" (or whatever term you'd use to separate right tackle traits from left tackle traits) be improved/developed? Or are those only god given?

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JerseyAl's picture

August 23, 2017 at 05:55 pm

agility can certainly be improved by specific workouts and mechanical adjustments

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TKWorldWide's picture

August 23, 2017 at 07:29 pm

I'm all for it.

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Spock's picture

August 24, 2017 at 08:19 am

TK, "you had me at 'pad level' ". LOL. TK, I always appreciate your puns &/or light hearted sarcasm. It gives the comment section some much needed amusement! Keep it up, please. :)

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TKWorldWide's picture

August 24, 2017 at 12:24 pm

Gracias, amigo, I intend to.
Everybody has their own way of being a fan. I watch every game and I think I "know football", but I don't take it all that seriously. To me, the NFL is entertainment. If someone said, "no, the NFL means more to me than that", that's their own deal. Everybody has to do it their own way.

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billybobton's picture

August 23, 2017 at 02:07 pm

I am not sure how on a play by play breakdown this comes up to terrible. Just from this, without the same on the other OL seems to indicate Spriggs was not the worst on the field and did his job well most of the time and spectacularly on occassion.

GREAT JOB on this appreciate the work and effort that went into it...

would love to see some context to the other OL and grading

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Bedrock's picture

August 23, 2017 at 02:26 pm

Just because he isn't the worst on a given play, or even compared to another player, doesn't mean he's good. The tallest midget, by definition, still isn't tall. Furthermore, he doesn't play against his fellow linemen (insert joke here). He's playing against the other team and needs to get his job done.

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JerseyAl's picture

August 23, 2017 at 08:19 pm

Not sure if that was meant for me, but I didn't call him terrible, other than that one play (#27), which certainly was terrible. He did his job on a lot of the plays where his job was rather simple but fell apart when under the most pressure. You can't have that from a left tackle.

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WKUPackFan's picture

August 23, 2017 at 10:17 pm

This is an outstanding breakdown and your thorough work is much appreciated.

One quibble: You didn't use the word "terrible", but you did say that he doesn't look like an NFL player. That pretty much equates to terrible.

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JerseyAl's picture

August 24, 2017 at 08:28 am

No it doesn't. I said, "as of right now." Meaning what we've seen thus far. Obviously, there were reasons he was drafted that high and is on an NFL team, but he's just not looking the part of a second round draft pick right now. Perhaps that's how I should have phrased it.

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RobinsonDavis's picture

August 24, 2017 at 09:36 pm

This last comment by Al is a very fair and appropriate assessment IMO. Two sacks in roughly a half of play is way too much, regardless of experience and draft position. You have to believe the Packer hierarchy is a little surprised and concerned as well, but they are not going to quit on Spriggs and he should know that.

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lou's picture

August 23, 2017 at 04:46 pm

I applaud Jersey Al for not only taking a stand but backing it up with references and I assume if he is proved wrong down the road he can live with that, it makes for great commentary. I would be interested Al in your pre-draft analysis/projections for Nick Perry as a comparison who also lead his position in most categories at the combine. I am pleased that Perry has become as good an all around player as he has, few can hold the edge like him and his pass rush has improved greatly.

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JerseyAl's picture

August 23, 2017 at 06:05 pm

I had Perry as my fourth best 3-4 OLB that draft after Courtney Upshaw, Melvin Ingram, and Vinny Curry. My comments at the time:

"In a nutshell: After a somewhat disappointing 2010 season, Perry rebounded in 2011, improving as the season progressed. A defensive end for the Trojans, Perry’s lack of bulk certainly projects him as a 3-4 outside linebacker in the NFL. Perry is fluid in space, sees the ball well and should be able to make the transition despite lack of experience at that spot. At this point in time, his pass rush skills are effective, but limited—he’s a pure outside speed rusher. In 37 games for the Trojans, Perry was in on 104 tackles, 30.5 for a loss and 21.5 sacks.

College Experience: After a redshirt freshman season where Perry recorded nine sacks as a backup defensive end, many were predicting really big things for Perry. Inexplicably, he dropped to four sacks in 2010 as a starter. He bounced back in 2011, with 8.5 sacks, but did not really reach the heights expected of someone with all the physical tools to be a dominant player. Something is not right here, so he drops a bit in the rankings."

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lou's picture

August 23, 2017 at 06:55 pm

Thanks Al, I know he played mostly with his hand down in college even though he was small for a DE, your projections were spot on and his pass rush has improved (as you indicated "at this point" he was one dimensional).

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Cartwright's picture

August 23, 2017 at 07:40 pm

Is Spriggs a prospect who simply needs more reps? Training camp just started, the hitting has just begun. By week six maybe he has it all tightened up. The franchise saw something in this guy that was exceptional, enough to trade away a draft pick to get him. Give the lad some time. Maybe he's a late bloomer.

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RCPackerFan's picture

August 24, 2017 at 09:03 am

Al,
For most of us all we have to go by is the games. Do you know how Spriggs has fared in practice? Do you know what his 1 on 1 score is in camp? Do you know how he compares to the other OL in camp as far as win totals go?

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JerseyAl's picture

August 24, 2017 at 11:28 am

I don't but there are some beat writers that keep tallies. I'll try to find out who.

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RCPackerFan's picture

August 24, 2017 at 12:04 pm

Thanks, it may help ease some of our minds.

McCarthy has said the last few days, today included that Spriggs has taken a leap in year 2 and is getting better, and believes that Spriggs will get to where he thinks he can be.
So I am just wondering if he is seeing something in practice that he really likes?
At least that's what I'm hoping.

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Turophile's picture

August 25, 2017 at 06:11 pm

Nice piece Jersey Al. This and Andrew Herman's 'Grading the Pack' pieces are my favourite kind of content. Love reading this stuff.

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JerseyAl's picture

August 25, 2017 at 08:47 pm

Thanks - Iove this stuff too, but it takes soooooooo many hrs. Usually hard to find that much time.

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